Indian English literature (IEL), also referred to as Indian Writing in English (IWE), is the body of work by writers in India who write in the English language but whose native or co-native language could be one of the numerous languages of India. Its early history began with the works of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio and Michael Madhusudan Dutt followed by Rabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo. R. K. Narayan, Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao contributed to the growth and popularity of Indian English fiction in the 1930s. It is also associated, in some cases, with the works of members of the Indian diaspora who subsequently compose works in English.
It is often referred to as Indo-Anglian literature (a writing specific term; not to be confused with Anglo-Indian). Although some works may be classified under the genre of postcolonial literature, Indian English literature, evolving since the late 18th century encompasses diverse themes and ideologies, making strict categorization challenging.